ljplicease | sgmrt: wyoming

When I first crossed the border into Wyoming it looked as though the rock had been chiseled by the rugged individuality that makes the cowboy state so famous, followed by a few gentle dabs of muted paint to give the desert a bit of color. Further into the state it turned into a flat yellow carpet or rolling hills. Although Wyoming is known as the cowboy state, with its high velocity winds and eco-friendly green energy wind farms it really ought to be called the windy state. On my journey east I noticed not only several wind farms, but the large bits and pieces needed to build more wind turbines on wide load trucks headed west. I vaguely remember reading something about the explosion of Wyoming wind farms in the Economist.

In the northwest of the state you have Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. I have been to both on trip in the past: I thought Grand Teton was magnificent, but as for Yellowstone, if I never see another geyser in my life it will be too soon. My little road trip takes me on I-80 in the south of the state, which parallels the Union Pacific. There are countless ghost towns that sprang up on the promise of the railroad coming through. Some flourished for a while only to die out when the railroad forked into a different direction, or finished stopping there. A few are accessible easily from the freeway, although most are in the back country and require a 4WD. I’d love to come back to Wyoming with a 4WD to check some of them out.

One of the easily accessible ones in Fort Fred Steele, 14 miles east of Rawlins (one on line source confusingly says it is west of Rawlins, but if you see it, don’t believe it). It was established on 30 June 1868 to protect the Union Pacific and officially abandoned 3 November 1886. The remnants of the fort were purchased by civilians (except for the cemetery which is still owned by the federal government). In 1939 the town faded away after the Lincoln Highway was rerouted away from the town. The only original structure still standing is the Powder Magazine. Aside from that, there were still a few original intact structures until 1976 when two remaining former barracks were burned down by vandals. Good job guys.

The foundations of most of the buildings can be clearly seen, as well as some of the chimneys. There must be something inherently structurally sound about the way chimneys are constructed because they are the most sturdy remaining objects in Bull Hill ruins near where I used to live in New York State as well. Visiting the site is more than a little bit eerie because aside from the distant murmur of I-80 and the wind it’s nearly silent, because nobody is there. I don’t mean just that nobody visits there (although for the hour and a half I was there nobody did), but they don’t even have park staff on duty. It’s strange, because a lot of work has clearly gone into the presentation of the park. Several of the buildings have been reconstructed, which I actually think is a pity, and the bathrooms, while only having pit toilets, have clearly been cleaned recently and have a fresh coat of paint.

There was a spot to collect donations. I put five bucks in, because I thought the effort they had put in was worth it. On one side of the donation envelope it says “NON-PAYMENT OF FEE SUBJECT TO FINE” while on the other it says “The State Park does not require the payment of any fees, but if you enjoyed your visit and would like to make a donation to help improve the park we welcome your support.” It was a perfect complement to the schizophrenic nature of the place.

In all I drove 455.2 miles today in about 8 hours, including an hour and a half at the park and a few short stops for rest and meals. I’m spending the night in Cheyenne.